The jewel of the Kootenays

By John Mackie, Postmedia News

NELSON, B.C. -- The nicest main street in British Columbia?

If you like old buildings, it's Baker Street in Nelson, the self-styled "heritage capital of British Columbia."

Baker street is positively brimming with beautiful Victorian and Edwardian commercial structures from the 1890s to the 1920s. There are a few newer buildings here and there, but basically it's a four-block long heritage streetscape.

What really makes Baker street cool, though, is the vibe. Nelson is a very laid-back, friendly place. And there don't seem to be any chains, so the stores don't have the bland uniformity of modern retail -- the stores tend to be individualistic and funky.

Nelson was settled in the 1890s, when silver was discovered on nearby Toad Mountain. It quickly became the commercial and cultural hub for the Kootenays, and a rail and shipping centre. The boom times would fade, but the buildings that sprang up in their wake remain.

The oldest building on Baker is a two-storey wooden structure from 1895 that houses the Dominion Cafe (338 Baker), one of Nelson's many excellent espresso bars. The outside is beautifully painted (a creamy yellow buff topped by forest green), and the inside is just as nice, with high ceilings and dark wood floors and wainscotting.

When I was there, a trio of earth people were taking about their family histories. One involved a circus act in Quebec. It was so entertaining, I ordered up a fresh-out-of-the-oven croissant and stayed for a second cup of coffee.

Wooden buildings are an anomaly on Baker, though. Pretty much everything else is made of brick or stone, the result of a bylaw passed in 1897 or '98.

Nelson's archivist Shawn Lamb explains that many boom towns of the time had seen their main streets devastated by fire. Nelson's first mayor, John Houston, thought that if they built Baker street out of brick or stone instead of wood, the fire danger would be lessened -- and it worked. Nearby towns like Rossland, Trail, Fernie, Kaslo and Sandon all suffered big fires, but Baker street didn't.

One of the street's most distinctive brick buildings is the K.W.C. block (498 Baker at Ward), which boasts a magnificent turret and arched windows. Another must-see is the Nelson courthouse, a block down the hill at 320 Ward. Designed in 1909 by F.M. Rattenbury, the architect of the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel in Victoria, it's got a handsome stone facade and its own nifty little turret.

The bulk of the Baker Street structures aren't as grand as the courthouse or the K.W.C. block, but that's part of their charm. Most are simple one or two-storey commercial buildings, like the Mara-Barnard Block, an 1897 building (431 Baker) with a couple of fabulous second-storey bay windows and elaborate Victorian detailing.

The Burns Building (560 Baker, built in 1899) is clad in terra cotta, and has nine arched windows on the second storey. The Bank of Montreal (298 Baker, built in 1899) is a lovely blend of brick and terra-cotta.

How did they all survive in such great shape? Lamb says it was due to a combination of factors.

To begin with, because of the brick or stone rule, they were much better made than wood buildings of the boom town era. They also cost more to build.

"You can walk away from a $2,000 wooden building, but you're not going to walk away from a $12,000 stone building as easily," reasons Lamb. "So you go through the hard times, or find an alternate use for it."

Once the silver petered out, there was also no economic reason to tear down a building and replace it with something new.

"After the First World War the economy went down, and it didn't resuscitate, really, until after the Second World War," says Lamb.

"And so where everyone else like Kelowna were tearing down their boom town (buildings) and rebuilding with modern construction, all the Nelson merchants and building owners could afford to do was clad them, covering them with modern-looking siding."

Fast forward to the 1980s. Social Credit cabinet minister Sam Bawlf is looking for a town with a lot of old buildings for a heritage revitalization scheme. Nelson is selected. The siding comes off, the beautiful old buildings are resurrected, and Nelson becomes the "heritage capital of British Columbia."

Today there are 350 designated heritage buildings in Nelson, which only has a population of 10,000.

It isn't an easy drive getting there -- eight to 10 hours from Vancouver, slightly less if you drive like a maniac -- but Nelson, and Baker street, is well worth it.

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